About “Perfect Places”

“Perfect Places” concerns a narrative often present at teenage parties, a story of drug usage and sex. Lorde ends the song and the album in general with a groundbreaking message: the mentalities and experiences involved with these practices are not actually so perfect, even though they may feel euphoric. The late teenage years are, above anything, imperfect.

The track was released as a promotional single from Melodrama, Lorde’s sophomore album. Jack Antonoff provided a hand in the background vocals and production of the song, much like the rest of Melodrama.

What have the artists said about the song?

this is a special one. i was living in new york during summer last year, writing melodrama – i’d ride across the brooklyn bridge every day, or sit on the subway uptown in the heat, then go back home to new zealand winter for a week at a time to party with my friends. my life was like a weird little etch-a-sketch i kept scribbling on and resetting. and all last summer, i couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone i knew or saw was searching for something – trying to transcend the news and the screaming pavements, drinking that one drink hoping it’d get them someplace higher. this song comes from that endless cycle of evenings and the violent heat of the summer. it took us a very long time to get right, from an aching piano demo to where is it now. it’s close to my heart. i hope you like it.

Are there any translations for this song?

What has Lorde said about the writing process of this song?

It’s lived a million lives. We’ve tried it at different tempos, used different voicings, took it half time, made it weird and druggy, but that didn’t work. A big problem is that there’s so much to the song. The other day I had a breakthrough: What if we delete the entire prechorus? Just take it out, and I never have to hear it again in my life? We did, and now the whole thing follows a much simpler trajectory.